The Portland Food Map archive provides a chronicle of the past 17 years of the Portland restaurant scene. While a lot of the reporting here is about what’s happening now and coming next, we thought it would be interesting to take a look back each month at the news from 5, 10 and 15 years ago.
Here’s some notable news from April 2010, 2015 and 2020:
- 2010 – Mr. Sandwich & Mrs. Muffin opened for business in Bramhall Square, Kamasouptra opened in the Public Market House, and Cranberry Island Kitchen opened on Danforth Street.
- Portland Food Map published a chronology/list of food businesses that at the time had been in business 20 years or more. The article has occasionally been updated since then.
- 2015 – The Honey Paw opened for business on Middle Street, and MK Kitchen opened in Gorham.
- The May issue (which came out in late April) of Bon Appétit features Tandem Bakery in their article Will Fly for Food which highlights 29 locations worldwide “to get lost and fed”.
- 2020 – There was a fire at Walker’s Maine in Cape Neddick.
- A new organization called Cooking for Community got underway. It worked with restaurants to buy local food from farms and fisheries to provide meals to those in need. Initially Cooking for Community worked with Chaval and Little Giant to prepare 450 meals for Catholic Charities of Maine, Wayside Food Programs, Amistad and Preble Street.
- Ramona’s launched on April 17th.
- A growing number of restaurants started selling groceries.
- State regulations were revised to allow restaurants to sell takeout cocktails. 20+ establishments immediately set-up to go cocktail options.
- Governor Mills set June 1st as the date when restaurants could re-open.
